Seaside Boys & Girls Club showcases STEAM projects

SEASIDE &GT;&GT; Of all the science activities Jaden Carrillo and Monica Flores have completed this summer at the Boys & Girls Club — making ice cream, root beer, dissecting a cow's eye — putting together a solar suitcase was their favorite.

"This one is more hands on," said Jaden, 12. "We accidentally broke a piece and had to start all over again."

Seaside community members had an opportunity Thursday to see what children attending the Boys & Girls Club were up to this summer during their STEAM fair, which showcased the members' projects in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math. From the solar suitcase project — several of which have been delivered to Uganda — to learning about nutrition and healthy habits, about 240 children have been engaged in projects that get them off the streets and away from television and video games for a few hours a day.

It's a way for avoiding "summer learning loss," a term used by academics to describe the effects of children being away from school for two months. While children from more affluent backgrounds usually benefit from summer camps and travel, children from poor families who do not practice their reading and writing skills actually lose ground academically over the long recess.

Education is not really the mission of the Boys & Girls Club. Its main purpose is to provide a safe space for children when they're not in school. But over the years, the clubs have had to reinvent themselves, the club's president said.

"Extended learning is critical to us," said Donna Ferraro, president of the Boys & Girls Club of Monterey County. "We're not educators, we have schools. We're here to enrich. This is a tremendous shift and positive for us."

Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education has been the subject of much hand wringing in the United States for the past few years. Some argue that to fill available jobs in sciences and engineering that now go to foreign-born professionals, education in the fields needs to be strengthened starting at the elementary level.

Some also want to see an increase in the percentage of minorities and women represented in STEM fields. An analysis by Georgetown University revealed that only 23 percent of STEM jobs are filled by women. African-Americans, Native Americans and Hispanics accounted for only 9.1 percent of professionals in the science and engineering workforce in 2006, according to a 2010 report from the National Academies, even though they represented 28.5 percent of the U.S. population at the time.

Having access to scientific experiments, even in informal settings, can be very beneficial, some experts say.

"For many of us who have a love for science or interest in STEM fields, that interest and passion originated in an informal science setting other than reading textbooks," said Mark O'Shea, a professor specializing in science at the CSU Monterey Bay School of Education. "Each and every one of these activities is of value, likely to be inspirational to the learners involved."

David Ramos, 11, was so excited about "adaptive sports" that he could hardly wait to show the projects his team has created. Using Popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, rubber bands and cups, his team put together catapults and levers, which could be used to score points in a basketball game for people with disabilities.